I finished the third block of the Solstice Dream quilt.



This block gave me a chance to learn a new stitch. The 3 marigold petals are stitched with the double Pekinese stitch. The double pekinese stitch looks complicated but really was quite easy to stitch. First, I stitched a backstitch around each marigold petal and then threaded another thread through the backstitches which gives the stitch a braid-like appearance.

I am always looking for the perfect bag. A perfect bag has the perfectly sized pockets and shape to carry everything I need. There are thousands of bag pattern but one pattern never seems to have everything I am looking for. Sue Spargo designed the Allium bag a year ago, the bag was quite ingenious and almost perfect. The Allium Spool Sac was designed specifically to store Eleganza, Razzle and Dazzle threads with the special vinyl zippered pockets manufactured by Yazzii.


I found the vinyl zipper pockets were ideal to keep my project thread organized. I loved that the vinyl zipper pockets had velcro along one edge so the pockets could easily be changed out of the bag. The bag was almost perfect but it lacked pockets to keep my wool block, notebook and needle keep with the project threads.

After months and months of thinking about adding pockets to the Allium bag, I finally came up with a bag construction plan. I decided to use a light weight mesh for the pockets. byannie has a wide selection of colors of mesh and zippers.

After much trial and error, I finished my first bag.


I am using the bag for my Solstice Dream quilt. Below are pictures of the inside of the bag. I have mesh pockets on each side of the bag, to hold block, pattern notebook. Solstice Dream requires a lot of different threads, I used 2 vinyl zipper pockets which attach to the bag with velcro.



Overall, I was pleased with my new bag. A few sewing design glitches which I tried to fix with my next bag.
I will use this bag for my 2017 Sue Spargo project, Fresh Cut.

I finished the second block of the Solstice Dream, called Petal Show.


Block 2 gave m the opportunity to learn the Basque stitch, which is illustrated in Yvette Stanton's book, The Right-handed Embroiderer's Companion. Yvette's book is an excellent reference for learning embroidery stitches and her Left-handed Embroiderer's Companion is an excellent guide for left-handed stitchers. The Basque stitch gives a beautiful picot edge to the inner flower petals. The bees are stitched with Dazzle thread.

The two finished blocks on my design wall.

I have been having some trouble publishing my blog so I have not been writing lately. Today, I decided I would try publishing and see what would happen.
I saw a new wool appliqué quilt pattern in February and it was love at first sight.

Solstice Dream was designed by Kerry Green of kerry stitch designs. The quilt is 36" x 42".

I decided to use hand dyed wool from Wooly Lady, I chose turquoise wool as my background. The butterfly is the first block I stitched, I really love stitching with the hand dyed silken pearl by Thread Gatherers. The finished size of the block is 6" x 12"

It has been quite awhile since my last post, life got a bit complicated.  After Christmas, I sewed the binding on Folk-Tails and today I hung the finished quilt. 

Folk-Tails is a wool quilt was designed by Sue Spargo and was introduced as her 2015 block of the month.  Folk-Tails was a creative journey for Sue as she was born and Zambia so designing the African animals, birds and vegetation brought back many childhood memories.  January through October 2014, I received 3 blocks to appliqué and embellish plus each month Sue would write a story about African folklore such as "How the Zebra got his stripes" and "Why Warthog is so ugly".  The beautiful machine quilting was done by Jessica Jones Gamez .  The finished quilt is 37" x 43". Close up of quilting on the giraffe and stork
The outer edges of the road were couched with bullion knots over two strands of #3 pearl cotton.

I am remembering Lucie today. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since Lucie died. I miss Lucie everyday, but it is true that time does heal. It was a lovely day in Phoenix, lately we have been having quite a few rainy days. I had lunch with Lucie's good friends, Jane and Mary Lou. We had lunch at Luci's, a delightful restaurant which has a beautiful outside dining area. Jane gave me a vintage milk bottle from Reading Home Dairy, Reading Michigan filled with beautiful bougainvillea from her yard.

I placed the flowers on ice box which use to belong to Lucie and John Protz.




In loving Memory of my sister Lucie June 25, 1943 - January 10, 2010

November 2015, Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer and for the last 12 months has courageously fought this disease. On May 18, 2016, Sue's daughter Aimee Spargo, sent a request to Sue Spargo stitchers to make a 4-1/2" square embellished WOOL block to be incorporate into an inspirational quilt for her Mom. Stitchers from all over the world responded to this request by stitching 394 blocks which Mary, Aimee and Kelly sewed together into an amazing quilt. The quilt was presented to Sue on October 14, 2016.



This is the block I made


My courage block in the quilt



This October, Sue joined with BrightPink and pledged 20% from every pack of her Special Edition Breast Cancer Awareness Thread Packs. BrightPink is a national non-profit focused on prevention and early detection of breast and ovarian cancer in young women. The organization’s mission is to save women’s lives from breast and ovarian cancer by empowering them to live proactively at a young age. Bright Pink’s innovative programs educate and equip young women to assess their risk for breast and ovarian cancer, reduce their risk, and detect these diseases at early, non life-threatening stages.

Sometimes it pays not to be the fastest student in a machine embroidery class. In January, I took a machine embroidery class with Claudia Dinnell of Claudia's Creations. I stayed after the end of the class so I could finish my Christmas "Boot'iful Bouquets. Claudia had some unfinished class project that she want to give away and I was lucky enough to get one of Claudia's halloween quilt.

My biggest challenge was sewing binding for an angle greater than 90 degrees. I did a google search and found a YouTube video by Marci Baker which had excellent directions for mitered binding angles, greater than 90 degrees.

Jessica Jones Gamez, Jessica Quilting Studio, did the beautiful machine quilting. The finished quilt is 18" by 54".

I have not been sewing much lately, I have been doing a lot of embellished wool appliqué. After Labor Day, I realized I only had 4 more months to make Beads of Courage bags for my 2016 donation.

Today, I finished 25 bags. My 2016 donation goal is 120 bags, so I have quite a few more bags to finish. A lot of the bags were made with dot fabric which was left over from making my sewquilt.com quilt in 2005 which used well over 60 different dot fabrics.


Beads of Courage was developed by Jean Baruch while working on her PHD in Nursing at the University of Arizona. She piloted the program at Phoenix Children's Hospital in February 2003. Every year, Beads of Courage provides assistance to more than 60,000 sick children coping with serious and life-threatening illnesses, and their families in over 250 children's hospitals throughout the United States, and in six additional countries.

I will be donating all Beads of Courage bag to Phoenix Children's Hospital, in memory of Kendall Jansen, a granddaughter of a good friend.

Sunflower Cowboy Boot is now quilted and bound. Beautiful machine quilting was done by Jessica Jones Gamez. Finished quilt is 20" x 25".


"Boot"iful Bouquets are machine embroidery designs by Claudia Dinnell. Claudia has an unique method for preparing fabric before doing the embroidery. The background fabric is stabilized with Shape Flex SF101 by Pellon, then a polymesh cutaway stabilizer is sprayed with Webbond by Mettler to adhere it to the back of the background fabric. After the background fabric is hooped, a piece of tear-away stabilizer is floated under the embroidery design. Hooping is easier with the polymesh stabilizer since it is softer and more flexible than medium weight tear-away stabilizer.